1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to outer cover structures for a wire harness, and in particular to an improvement in an outer cover member such as a protector for protecting a wire harness that is routed on the lower surface side of a side sill of an automobile.
2. Description of the Related Art
A wire harness that is routed in an automobile is protected in a region where this is required by a protector made from a resin molded article through which the wire harness passes. By being covered with the protector, the wire harness is protected from external interfering substances, is limited in its route, and is limited in its shape such that, for example, its cross-sectional shape is flattened, so that the wire harness is capable of being inserted into a routing space.
Also, in a region where the wire harness needs to be protected not by the protector but by a simple protection or the like, the wire harness is inserted into an outer cover member such as a corrugated tube or a circular tube that is made from a resin molded article.
A number of such protectors for covering the wire harness have conventionally been proposed, for example, by JP H06-165339A, and JP 2000-236609A.
Among the wire harnesses that are routed in an automobile, there is a wire harness that is connected to a junction box mounted in a front portion of a vehicle interior and routed to the rear of the vehicle along a sill panel. This wire harness is hereinafter referred to as “floor harness”, although it is also often referred to as “body harness”.
Under doors of lateral side openings of the automobile, the floor harness is routed on the inner side of a sill side flange on a sill side panel. At positions under the side doors where kicking plates are arranged, the wire harness that is routed below is liable to be subjected to impact loads due to stepping of a driver or passenger, dropped baggage, or the like. Conventionally, therefore, the floor harness is covered with and protected by a protector so that no impact load is applied to the floor harness.
As illustrated in FIG. 10, a floor harness W/H needs to be protected, to be limited in its route, and to be limited in its shape, particularly from a region S1 underneath a side door to a region S2 within a rear wheel house 4 where the floor harness is routed. Accordingly, a relatively elongated protector 100 for these three-dimensional regions is provided so as to cover the floor harness. The protector 100 needs to be provided in different shapes for left and right sides, that is, the protector 100 needs to be provided as a left side protector 100A or a right side protector 100B as illustrated in FIGS. 11(A) and 11(B) depending on whether, for example, it is for a left-hand drive vehicle or a right-hand drive vehicle. The protector 100 (100A, 100B) has a three-dimensional shape and, therefore, needs to be fixed to the vehicle body at a plurality of locations. Therefore, there is a problem that, due to the complicated shape of the protector, the costs for the production of metal molds are high, resulting in high manufacturing costs, and it is time-consuming to mount the protector on the vehicle body.
Further, it is necessary to manufacture the protectors according to the shapes of vehicles, that is, to manufacture the protectors independently for each type of vehicle or each of a left-hand drive vehicle and a right-hand drive vehicle. Accordingly, many types of protectors are needed, causing a problem of a significant increase in cost.
In order to solve the above-described problem that provision of many types of protectors results in high costs, it is an object of the present invention to provide an outer cover structure for a wire harness that can employ a protector that is used commonly with vehicles that have different shapes depending on, for example, the type of vehicle or whether it is a left-hand drive vehicle or a right-hand drive vehicle, and that have different three-dimensional routing paths of a floor harness from an under portion of a side door to a rear tire house.